


Seeing What's In Front Of You

by fineandwittie



Category: Fast and the Furious Series, The Fast Saga, The Fast and the Furious (2001)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst with a Happy Ending, Brian Needs a Hug, Brian is a dirty cop, Bullying, Child Abuse, Crime, Emotional Overload, Explicit Language, Framing A Shitty person, Jealousy, M/M, Period-Typical Homophobia, Race Wars, a rewrite of the Date Scene, but that was real common in 2001, dirty cop, rated for the single use of a word that no one should ever say to anyone, this is gone completely off the rails and I have no idea what I’m doing anymore, undercover cop, you know the one
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-29
Updated: 2020-06-16
Packaged: 2021-03-02 23:22:29
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 17,702
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24445033
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fineandwittie/pseuds/fineandwittie
Summary: At the Shrimp Shack, when Dom pressed Brian about what was bothering him, he didn't brush it off. He didn't press Dom back about joining the truck jobs. He confessed.
Relationships: Brian O'Conner/Dominic Toretto
Comments: 23
Kudos: 533





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> My first attempt in this fandom. Let's see how it goes.

Dom took his sunglasses off, leveling an unimpressed look at Brian. The high from their race had burned off too quickly. “Obviously somethin’s off.”

“Look…” Brian started, a flippant comment on the tip of his tongue. But he paused. The tension in his shoulders was beginning to give him a headache and the dread he’d been carrying for weeks sat lead-like and heavy in his guts. 

He tried to imagine how this would all play out. He’d make a flippant comment, he and Dom would argue, maybe he’d convince Dom to cut him in on the truck jackings. Whatever else happened, he’d eventually be forced to turn over evidence that the team was behind the hijackings. Dom and Mia and Letty and Jesse and Leon and Vince would all be arrested. Brian would have to testify. He’d have to sit in court, with their eyes on him, with Dom’s eyes on him, and sell them all out. Because that was his job. But then, that was a best case scenario.

Worst case? Dom would pull another job, maybe before Race Wars or maybe after, but he would. He’d take the team to jack a truck and the driver would be armed. Dom would get shot and he’d crash. He and whoever was driving with him would die. Could Brian let that happen? When he could do something to stop it?

Dom was watching him, expression stoic, almost flat, but his eyes were warm with concern. And just like that, between one heartbeat and the next, Brian was done. Done pretending, done lying. “Look. I…You’re right.”

Dom leaned in and tilted his head just a little, like he was trying to see what was wrong written on Brian’s face. “Bri, you saved me from the cops. You’re family now, Buster. You know whatever it is you need, I got you. Whatever’s wrong, I’ll help. Tell me.”

The words slipped between Brian’s lungs like a knife, wedging themselves into his heart. His skin felt hot and stretch too tight across his bones. The promise made his eyes prickle, so he closed them.

“God, Dom. Don’t make that promise to me. Please. Just…”

When Brian opened his eyes, Dom was frowning, his concern now clearly etched across his face. “Bri, There’s nothing that’s gonna—“

“Don’t. Please just don’t. Not yet. I’ve got something to tell you first. A confession to make. When I’m done, you won’t want to make me that promise, so don’t make it now.” Dom was shaking his head, his shoulders tight. Brian barreled on. “Look, can we go somewhere quiet? I can’t…I’m pretty sure you’re not gonna react well. I don’t…I’d rather you not get cuffed for assault.”

Dom flinched back, a whole body movement like dodging a blow. Brian could see an entire storm of emotion on Dom’s face now, as though Brian had torn open a wound in him. Brian thought, nearly hysterical, that if he looked just the right way, he’d be able to see Dom bleeding out onto the floor. “You think I’d hit you? I’d never. You have to know that I’d never… Is this about Linder? What I told you about my conviction? Brian, Jesus. You think I’m that unstable?” There was a strain in his voice that Brian felt in his lungs. Dom flexed his right arm, without seeming to notice. 

“No. Dom. Fuck. No, I know you’re not unstable. I just…It’s…Don’t make promises you can’t keep, man. You haven’t heard what I’ve got to say.” Brian wasn’t sure what his expression was doing, but whatever it was had Dom reaching for him on instinct, before catching himself, but it didn’t stop the rawness or hurt in Dom’s eyes. Brian swallowed and looked away.

There was a sharp intake of breath across the table and then, “Alright, Bri. Come on. I know a place.” There was the flatness again in the hollow, gutted sound of his voice. Dom stood and dropped some bills on the table. 

Brian could do nothing, but follow. He was, after all, the architect of his own doom.

The drive to Dom’s ‘place’ was silent. The easy companionship of the trip down, of the race against the Ferrari, gone as though it had never been. The lines of Dom’s back and shoulders, even in profile, looked harsh, brittle, as though a single touch might shatter him. Brian had never hated himself so much, never hated his badge so much. He felt like he was standing on the edge of a precipice, staring into the void. It was all his own goddamn fault. 

Brian wondered why he hadn’t savored Dom’s quiet confidence in him, or the barely-there smirk that had touched the other man’s mouth earlier when he’d growled, “Smoke’em.” He wondered if this would be the last time he’d see Dominic Toretto. He wondered what the fuck he thought he was doing and how he was going to explain all of it to Tanner.

Too late now. The startline on this was way behind him and the churning in his stomach usually meant it was about time to hit the NOS. The crash at the finish line was going to destroy him, Brian knew, but there was no other choice he could make.

Dom eventually pulled them onto a side road that was really more of a hiking trail. Brian hadn’t even noticed the turn until they were already in the middle of it. At the end of it was an empty beach, the sand gleaming white in the sun. For an heartbeat, Brian forgot what he’d gotten himself into, forgot about the trucks and the badge and Race Wars. He stared, breathing quietly, and just drank in the beauty of the pristine beach. One last moment.

Dom killed the engine and got out. He leaned against the hood, crossed arms straining the short sleeves of his shirt. Dom looked smaller somehow, which for a man as big as he was unsettling. His eyes were focused outward, away from Brian.

He’d gotten dressed up, Brian realized. No muscle shirt, no grease-stained coverall. Just a nice pair of white slacks and a button-down. Dom looked good, even with all the added weigh pressing down on his shoulders. Brian wondered why and what it meant, wasn’t sure it meant anything at all. 

It made Brian think of the date he’d had with Mia a few days before. He’d worn almost the same outfit he had on now, which was to say, he hadn’t actually gotten fancied up. No wonder he’d crashed and burned. She’d spent the evening laughing at him, mostly, and he’d dropped her off earlier than he’d been expecting to. He should be torn up about it, he knew. He pushed the thought away. He couldn’t care about more than this moment, right now. He didn’t have it in him.

“Out with it, then. There’s no use stalling, Bri. If whatever it is is so bad…Waiting isn’t gonna make it better.” Dom’s graveled voice cut through the uncontrolled swirl of his thoughts and his eyes snapped up. Dom had turned back to him, was watching him, eyes guarded and face blank.

Brian still had no idea what he was doing. No idea how to go about doing it. Only that he had to. “Dom…Vince was right,” seemed like as good a place to start as any.

Dom frowned, searching Brian’s face. “You’re going to need to be more specific, man. Vince mouths off more than is good for him. It’s hard to keep up.”

Brian inhaled and prepared for violence, prepared for the crash. “I’m a cop. I’m undercover LAPD.”

Dom’s breath seemed to freeze in his lungs. His expression didn’t change though. He just stared at Brian. “You’re a cop.” His voice had gone papery and it felt like barbed wire wrapping around Brian’s throat.

“Look, Dom. Listen, I was sent to infiltrate the street racing scene. It’s about the truck heists. My superiors are trying to figure out who did them, and I was sent in to find out who had the precision driving skills, as well as the speed.” Brian shook his head, dug his fingertips into his palms. He was doing this ass-backwards.

“So…what? You wanted to come out to somewhere private for this? Why? To arrest me? Gonna to send me back to Lompoc, Brian?” Dom’s voice was as flat and hollow as his gaze. Brian couldn’t quite fathom it. He’d never seen Dom like this. “Is Brian even your name?”

“Jesus Christ. I wouldn’t do that to you, Dom. Fuck. That’s not why…I’m not…Fuck.” This was getting out of control, going places that Brian wasn’t ready for, not yet. He needed to warn Dom first. He needed to make sure Dom wasn’t in danger and then he’d let Dom shred him to pieces. But not yet. “My name is Brian O’Connor. Almost everything about me that you know is true. I did do two years in juvie for boostin’ cars. I was born in Arizona. All of it. It’s true. I only ever lied about my name and what I do for a living. I had no idea it was you and the team. But I…Dom, you’ve got to promise me that you won’t do another truck. You’ve got to promise. Dom, I’m begging you.”

“Why not, Brian? Don’t you wanna catch us in the act so you can take the whole team down? Or is it just me you’re after?” There was a belligerent kind of anger started to crawl up into Dom’s gaze.

“Because the truck drivers are packing now. They’ve all armed up. I can’t…Dom, please. Someone is going to get killed if you do another one. I’m not turning you in. I don’t have any evidence and even if I did, I’d throw it in the ocean before I’d send you to prison. I knew telling you would…But I had to. I couldn’t live with myself if someone died because I was too chickenshit to admit that I was lying. I’m sorry. I’m sorry for everything. No…that’s not true. I’m not sorry that I met you. You gave me something I’ve never had before. You gave me a home, if only for a little while. I couldn’t repay that with betrayal.”

The anger was gone as fast as it had come, leaving Dom’s face as blank as before. “Why me, then? Why...Mia?”

Brian swallowed hard against the constriction in his throat. There was that barbed wire again. “Mia was sweet. I liked her immediately and I knew we’d get along easy. A quick in, but also a quick friend. Someone I could connect with. She can be real easygoing when she wants to be…You were the one I picked, the one I went to the market to see. Meeting Mia was…a bonus, but not a pre-planned one. She’s…she’s great. But I thought maybe, if I turned up there long enough, I’d meet you. I was right.”

“Why?” Dom’s voice was still papery thin and strained, but he wasn’t giving any quarter on this. His arms were still crossed tight against his torso. It made his biceps bulge in a way that Brian thought might be intended to intimidate. It didn’t work quite so well on Brian though. He could see the indents where Dom was digging his fingers into his arms. "Why me?"

Brian tried to work some saliva into his mouth. He flexed his own fingers, to release some of the tension riding him. It didn’t help. “I’d read the files on all the possible players. All the suspects. Did you know the LAPD call you the King of the Streets? The moment I read your file, I knew it was you I was going to get in with, if I could.”

“Why?” Dom was snarling now, muscles tensed. He looked ready to take that swing at Brian’s face. “What? Do I look like a sucker to you? Someone easy to con? That must have been hilarious at the precinct. Ha-Ha. Dominic Toretto thinks he’s such a big shot, such a tough guy, but look how easy he falls for a pretty face? That it?”

Brian blinked. Wait, what? “Dom. No. It was never…” Brian stopped, examining Dom and the crushed glass look in his eyes. Brian’s heart, already beating double-time, tripped and stuttered for a blink. “Look, my boss already warned me twice about going native.” Dom’s eyes widened a little at that. “I picked you because there was something in your face. Even in just the mug shot they had, that…I don’t know. You’re not what your file makes you seem. You’re not just some street thug, man. You’re not a violent ex-con. You’re much too smart for all of that. I could see it in your face, even then. And a kind of quiet strength, perseverance…or some…spark. I don’t know. Mia told me you were like gravity and she’s right. Just looking at your mugshot pulled me in.”

Dom’s eyes were narrowed now, but he’d wrapped one hand around the cross he wore, letting it dig deep into his palm. “I can tell when you’re actively trying not to tell me something. What are you not saying? ”

Brian’s gaze slid away. There was a seagull sitting in the sand a little ways up the beach. He took a deep breath. It pecked at something. “It’s not important. I—“

“No.” Dom cut him off, coming up off the bumper and into Brian’s space. “You don’t get to tell me what’s important in this, you lying little shit. Either you answer my goddamn questions or I’ll take this car and fucking leave you here.”

Brian’s breath shuddered to a halt. No threat of violence, no promise to…If their places had been reversed, Brian wasn’t sure he’d be able to stop himself from at least making the threat. “Fine. Aright. Jesus…It’s…I...Man, you’re fucking beautiful. I figured that if I was wrong and you were just a violent thug, at least I’d have something nice to look at.”

When the silence had stretched passed Brian’s ability to tolerate it, he looked back at Dom, whose eyes were wide with shock, lips slightly parted. They glistened in the hot sun, as though Dom had just licked them. 

Brian knew he wasn’t doing it on purpose, but god, there was something so enticing in the soft part of Dom’s wet mouth. His own mouth watered, but he pushed it all away. “I guess Vince was sorta right about that too.”

Dom blinked and his expression clouded with confusion. “You went out with my sister. I thought you’d…” He waves his hand around vaguely.

Brian laughed, bitter and harsh. “Nah, man. She wasn’t into me. I dropped her off at home early. Thought you were there. And honestly? Even if she had been…I really wasn’t. Maybe if…things were different for me. If you…Yeah. No.”

Dom shook his head. “What are you saying, Bri? In one breath, you tell me you’re a cop and the next, this bullshit. What—“

“I’m in love with you, okay? I’m shit at the whole concept, so maybe I’m wrong, but either way. It doesn’t matter. I’m answering your questions. I’ll answer anything you want me to, but I need you to promise me that you’re done with the trucks. You can walk away after and never have to see or talk to me again. Whatever you want me to do, I’ll do it. But I need you to promise that you won’t go after another truck and get yourself fucking killed. I can’t—You can’t—Jesus Christ. I won’t go to your funeral, Dominic Toretto. I wouldn’t survive it. Any of it.” His little diatribe left Brian panting, his hands balled into fists. He felt like he was going to vibrate out of his skin.

There was a moment of stillness, as something in Brian wound tighter and tighter. Dom was watching him with that guarded gaze. It felt like being dissected. It felt like standing there naked and on display, every fault and every weakness out in the open for Dom’s perusal. It made Brian want to turn and run as far as the streets would carry him, and ten steps passed into the ocean. It made him want to crawl into the earth as deep as he could and bury himself in the molten core.

Brian didn’t move. 

He simply stood and looked back.

“Whatever I want?” Dom’s voice had dropped, just a little, and sounded like Brian imagine scotch would: deep and burning, harsh but so smooth.

“I swear to God. Anything. Name it.”

Dom narrowed his eyes, examining him, and Brian felt a wave of calm wash over him. It was out with. He had no control over it anymore and there were no more lies to hide behind. The weigh that had been growing in him the longer he knew Dom slipped away. He was untethered, libel to float away at any moment. 

Even if Dom turned around and walked away, left him here on a beach with no way home and his life in shambles, he could make peace with that. 

“What if I wanted you to quit being a cop?”

And just like that, the calm was swept away and Brian’s heart was rabbiting in his chest. “Sorry. What?” He managed to choke out.

“You said anything.” Dom said, watching him through hooded eyes. Was this a test? “You want to make this right? Quit. Turn in your badge. Stop being a cop.”

Brian didn’t have anything else. No friends, no family, certainly not the team anymore, nothing else. All he had now was his badge. What Dom was asking was for Brian to surrender his whole life.

But Brian had made his choice weeks ago. His voice was strained, when he said, “Fuck. Okay. You want to punish me for this. I get it. It makes sense, taking away the only thing in my life that means anything. I.... Okay. I told you I’d give you whatever you asked for.”

Dom was frowning when Brian opened his eyes. “The only thing…”

Brian laughed and the sound made Dom flinch. “I don’t have family, Dom. You know that. No friends. No hobbies. Just you and the team, who I’ve already lost, and my work. So, you want that too? Fine. If we swing by my apartment, I’ll grab my badge and my gun. You can drop me at the safe house. My Sargent should be there and the FBI point man. I’ll do it right now, if you want.” Brian finally wound down. He was shaking.

Dom was watching him, a curious expression on his face, one that Brian couldn’t parse. “You’d do it. You would actually do it. Because I asked you to.”

“Yes.”

Dom nodded thoughtfully, stepping further into Brian’s space. Brian didn’t back down, refused to give Dom the satisfaction. He could feel the heat radiating out from Dom’s skin. It made his skin prickle and his breath catch.

“Brian…” Dom paused, searching his gaze. He inhaled and turned away, pacing the length of the Supra. “I don’t make friends easy, not anymore. When we were all kids, it seemed like my crew had somebody new every week. They came and they went and I didn’t care much either way. Except for Vince, who I’ve known since third grade, and then Leon, who we went to high school with. Eventually there was Jesse. Letty is Mia’s best friend, so there was her too. I’d somehow made myself a family. But then…I went to Lompoc. When I came out, whatever was in me that let me make friends, that let people get close, that…instinct to trust. It was gone. It was gone, until I met you. Even that day at the market, you caught my eye. You stood up to Vince. Hell, you were winning that fight. When you turned up to the race…and then later…It was just so easy with you. Was it because you were undercover? Were you…fitting yourself to some cues I was giving or something?” Brian shook his head, but didn’t dare interrupt. “So we are just that…compatible. I’ve been fighting with Letty for weeks about you. Leon won’t stop busting my balls over it.”

Dom stopped and looked up into Brian’s face. “I showed you my car.” He swallowed and then exhaled slowly. “I’ve never shown anyone that car before. Even Mia doesn’t go into that garage. I’m not sure she knows that I restored it after the crash. Brian, do you see what I’m trying to say?”

Brian shook his head again. His heart was thundering in his chest and he thought he might hurl, but he had no idea where Dom was going with all this.

“Brian, man…Don’t think I’m not angry with you for lying to me. You’re a goddamn cop…But…I don’t trust easy.” Brian clenched his teeth at that, struggling to keep holding Dom’s gaze. “I don’t trust easy, but I do trust deep. It helps that you told me, before everything could go to shit. It helps. I don’t want to lose you, buster. I don’t know what we’re going to do about all of it, though.”

A wave of emotion crashed over Brian. He couldn’t even pick out what it was exactly, only that it was crushing. He sucked in a sharp breath and choked. He was gasping as he collapsed to the ground, knees and fingers buried in the sand. His whole body was shaking again, and he couldn’t catch a breath. 

“Jesus!” Brian felt, rather than saw, Dom come to kneel at his side. He wrapped an arm around Brian’s chest, helping to hold him up. It was like a line of fire against Brian’s skin. “Jesus, Bri. Breathe. You gotta breathe or you’re gonna pass out on me.”

With Dom’s arm across his body and his hand on Brian’s back, the blond finally managed to drag in some oxygen. “You’re not going to drop me?” He managed to force out the question.

Dom shook his head. “I couldn’t if I wanted to, Bri. We’re in this together, you and I.”

Confusion pushed the anxiety attack back and Brian was finally able to pull back and meet Dom’s eyes again. There was warmth lingering there, but Brian couldn’t… “Dom?”

The smile that curled one side of Dom’s lips was small and a little brittle. “It feels like I’ve been in love with you for my entire life, even though it’s only been a couple months. Brian. I won’t lose you to this. I won’t ask you to give up the badge, if it means so much. But I will say…if you do, you’ll still have us. You’ll always have me. I know that I should be raging at you, should turn and walk away from you. We’re terrible for each other. But I can’t. In that, at least, I think you’re stronger than me.”

Brian’s eyes were so wide, it looked almost painful. “Dom. Holy shit. Dom. If the choice is between you and the badge? It’s always going to be you. I would be perfectly happy working in your garage for the rest of my life, if it meant that I could just be in your orbit.”

Dom’s lips parts on quiet breath. “Would you? Will you? Come work at the garage? Bri…”

In lieu of answering, Brian surged up, grabbing Dom’s head and kissed him hard. 

It was a revelation. 

When Brian pulled away to breathe, Dom followed, pressing short kisses to Brian’s mouth, chin, jawline. Brian was panting, as Dom worried the sensitive spot under Brian’s jaw, but his eyes were bright and wide. “Dom… Dom, Johnny Tran.”

Dom pulled back, incredulous. “I don’t think I appreciate you thinking about Johnny Tran when my mouth is on you.”

Brian grinned at him, but shook his head, a little wild. “Dom, we can pin the heists on Johnny Tran and his toady of a cousin. You’ve got some of the merch left?” Dom nodded slowly, watching Brian warily. “Johnny will be at Race Wars all day. If you keep the team busy there, make sure people see you all together, I can smuggle…Does he have a warehouse? Or something?” Dom nodded again. “Alright. I can smuggle some of the electronics in there. We already know that he’s got a bunch of electronics and shit in his garage, which was raided today. I already told my boss that it was Tran. You need to have the Civics cleaned. Even just one of them. Or…you and I will do it. We need to make sure there isn’t any forensic evidence. If you can get me something off Tran…hair or something. A hand print. If you can get him to lay a hand on your clothes, I can lift it and put it in the car.”

Dom was shaking his head. Brian’s plans petered out. “Bri, you…What you’re talking about, it’s…You’re going to frame Johnny Tran for something I did?” 

Brian shrugged. “He blew up my car. He’s been running drugs. The cops have been after the whole family for decades. I’ve seen the files. They’ve been dabbling in sex trafficking recently. Dom, if this is the thing that puts him behind bars? Do you really have a problem with that?”

“What you’re talking about, O’Connor, is a crime. You’re talking about committing a crime. You’re a cop.”

Brian looked away, out toward the ocean, and tried to put his thoughts together. “Yeah. It is. I’m not afraid of going to prison. I should be. Ex-cops don’t last so long, inside. But I’m not. I know you and the team did the jackings. I don’t care. I…I won’t let you go to prison. And yeah. I’m a cop. I’ve been a cop for six years. Do you know when the last time I boosted a car was? Or raced? Before this case, I mean.” Dom raised an eyebrow. Brian grinned. “About four months ago. I’ve never been a great cop, Dom.”

Dom took a breath. “So. We’re really going to do this? Frame Tran?”

“I’m in, if you are.”

Dom looked at him for a moment, before a slow grin stretched his mouth. “Hell yeah.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this is going to be longer than originally thought. It might even end up 4 or 5 chapters. But I know there'll be at least one more. Thanks for your patience and time. Enjoy!

Dom pulled the Supra up outside the garage. Besides Dom’s brief conversation with Mia, the drive had been silent. Thoughts and plans churned in Brian’s head. He tried to work through a mental list of all the possible evidence that could be collected from the Civics, where the cops would look, how he could make sure none of them got caught. While he stewed, Dom kept side-eyeing him. There was a fragile light in his face that Brian had never seen. He wasn’t sure if it was joy or relief or something else altogether, but it called to an answering lightness in his own chest. 

He tried to ignore it and focus on the task at hand. He managed it until they turned onto Bellevue. He’d been bouncing his knee, an unconscious attempt to vent excess energy that wasn’t actually working. As they took the turn, Dom reached over and wrapped his large hand over Brian’s thigh, not quite high enough to tease. Brian froze and abruptly all his thoughts were on the man sitting next to him. 

Dom was watching him out of the corner of his eyes. “Breathe,” he murmured.

Brian took a shaky breath and twitched a smile. “A little jittery.”

Dom snorted and glanced over fully. “Yeah. What gives?”

Brian stared at him, incredulous. “Are you for real, man? We’re going to your work to tell your team…your family that I’ve spent the last couple months lying to them, that I’m a cop, but it’s cool because I’m gonna protect them from jail. Also, just as a fun aside, we’re in love. Thanks for playing, come again soon? Jesus, Dom. Do you think that any of them are going to be okay with this? Do you think Vince is going to be okay with this? Letty?” Now that he’d blurted it all out, Brian realized how much that thought make his stomach roil. If the team refused to have anything to do with him, any chance he’d have for a relationship with Dom would be a vanishing dream. Even if Dom was willing to try, how could any relationship survive that much outside pressure?

Dom blinked at the nearly hysterical tone in Brian’s voice, and sighed. Pulling up in front of his garage, Dom killed the engine, but didn’t make a move to leave the car. There was an escalating tension between them and Brian couldn’t quite parse it, couldn’t quite get his heartbeat to slow or the rushing in his ears to stop. “Bri, I will always have your back.” Dom reached out, lacing their fingers together and prompting Brian to meet his gaze. “We’ll figure things out. The team know you. We all know you. And you’re protecting them with your life. That’s not a small thing.” He squeezed Brian’s hand.

Brian took a breath. His pulse finally slowed. The panic ebbed. Dom was right; he knew the team and they knew him. Excluding Vince, mostly they liked him and he’d have Dom’s support. Brian nodded. “Okay.” One more breath. “Okay. Let’s do it.”

Dom nodded and pulled his hand away. The heat was rising from the asphalt and the sun baked down in a way that it hadn’t near the water. Brian could feel it through his converses when he finally exited the car.

Dom came up along side him as he moved up the driveway toward the garage, and slung an arm around his shoulders. They walked together, pressed close. Brian closed his eyes, savoring Dom’s warmth pressed along his side even in the California sun, and nodded. Dom’s large hand wrapping around his skull jolted him back to himself and he blinked his eyes open. Dom tilted his head down and pressed a kiss to his temple. “We’ll be fine.”

The gesture sent Brian’s heart rabbiting into his throat. They were clearly visible from the garage. Would the team think it was a gesture of affection? Vince had kissed the back of Dom’s head a time or two. But then, Dom and Vince had known each other since they were children. Or was this how Dom wanted to tell them? Without actually saying anything? Brian shook the thoughts off and tried to slow his galloping pulse. If Dom wasn’t going to worry about it, neither would he. He’d follow wherever Dom led.

Pulling away, Dom shot him a grin that made Brian’s groin tighten, all white teeth and sparking eyes, and led the way inside. Brian ignored the reaction and trailed after.

They were greeted with a ruckus of welcome. Even Vince didn’t seem nearly as hostile as usual. “Hey! So, buster, what do you think of the new wheels?”

Brian couldn’t have stopped his grin if he’d tried. “It’s over for me, man. There’s never going to be another to measure up. I’m in love.”

Dom’s chuckle cut through the laughter and skittered down Brian’s spine. “Oh. So what am I, then? Chopped liver?” Or that could be how they told the team…Dom was grinning at Brian again, his eyes shrewd, calculating, full of challenge. There was tension riding in his shoulders though, like he didn’t quite believe that Brian would be willing to admit anything. 

Brian inhaled sharply and watched as shadows started to gather in Dom’s eyes, which was not something Brian could tolerate being the cause of. He stretched his mouth in an answering grin that spoke more of hunger than amusement and gave Dom a very obvious once over. “So little faith, Dominic. And, anyway, you’re going to tell me that you don’t love the RX7 more than me? Don’t even try it. No one here is going to believe you.” The shadows cleared and Dom’s smile lit his face. He closed the short distance between them, loose limbs and a predator’s gait. 

Jesse was grinning at them. “He’s got you there, Dom.” He said.

Dom rolled his eyes at Jesse, slinging that arm around Brian’s waist this time and tugging him in. He brushed a kiss over Brian’s cheekbone and murmured, heavy rumble right in Brian’s ear, “Not even close. The Charger maybe, but I’d take you over the RX7 any day that ends in Y.”

Brian felt it down to his bones and thought he might just melt into the floor. His bones felt like they were made of putty, but his skin was hot and he itched for Dom to back up the promise in his voice.

Goddamn it. They were working on a deadline, whether the others knew it or not. Head in the game, O’Connor, Brian berated himself.

The rest of the room remained silent. Mia was looking back and forth between them. “Well,” she finally said with a sigh. “That explains an awful lot.”

Letty snorted. “Doesn’t it though?”

“Don’t start with me, Letty.” Dom laughed, still hyperaware of the line of heat Brian was searing into his side, from hip to shoulder, how lax he’d gone at the sound of Dom’s voice. “We were great in the sack and you know it.”

She flipped him off, but couldn’t keep a sly grin off her face.

“What the fuck is going on?” Vince’s flat voice cut through the easing tensions and racketed them right back up.

Dom’s eyes snapped to Vince, everything falling out of them leaving behind a vivid blankness. “What’s it look like, Vince?”

Vince narrowed his eyes and pushed off from the worktable he’d been leaning against. “It looks like maybe you’re fucking the buster. You’re not fucking the buster, right, Dom? Tell me you’re not a cocksucker. Tell me I wasn’t right that first day when I called him a faggot.”

Dom just held his ground, meeting Vince’s hostile gaze, and stayed silent. Brian could feel the hard lines of Dom’s shoulders, how taut the man was pulled. Vince’s anger, his hatred, was hurting Dom in a way that Brian wasn’t sure he could reach. But he could draw fire at least. 

He disengaged from Dom’s half-embrace and circled over into Vince’s space. Dom felt immediately cold, even in the swelter of the garage. He wished he had a beer or a sports drink. At least that way he’d know what to do with his hands. He tracked Brian’s movements, apprehensively.

Brian was getting into Vince’s face, using his greater height like a weapon. Dom shifted, uneasy, and glanced at Mia. She was watching the looming confrontation, her hands white knuckling the back of the chair that Letty was sprawled in. 

“What’s your problem, huh?” Brian was saying, his voice low and icy. “You got a problem with me, Vince, you take it up with me. You don’t lash out at Dom.” He got up in Vince’s face, staring him down. “You wanna go, asshole? We’ll go. But if I ever hear you call either of us that again, I am going to bury you so deep that it’ll take an earthquake to recover the body.” Brian’s eyes were empty and cold. Vince flinched back from it almost imperceptibly. “Do we understand each other?”

Vince knew that he should back down. He knew he wasn’t likely to win a fight with the buster, even if they were on an even playing field and Dom would let it happen, knew he would have lost the last one. The ice was paper thin under his feet. But he couldn’t. Couldn't let it slide. This asshole, this buster, had come into his city, and carved out a place for himself at their table. He had Dom, who Vince had known his whole life it seemed, wrapped up in him so tight that he was willing to fuck a dude because of it. He couldn’t let it stand. This wasn’t Dom. This wasn’t any of them. “Yeah, I got a problem with you, bitch. You come in here like you belong and you fuck everything up. We were all good before you came along. Things were good. Now, what? Dom’s a cocksucker? A queer? Since fucking when? He’s been with Letty for years, man. Why’d he go for some trash like you? And you can’t even settle for one of them either, can you? You’ve been sniffing around Mia like a bitch in heat. What do you even want? Go the fuck back where you came from and leave us alone.” He was snarling by the end. 

He could see Dom over Brian’s shoulder and his face was shuttered, which meant something Vince had said cut. He was sorry for that, but if it woke everyone up to how fucked up this all was, then it was worth it.

Brian stood, staring at him with that empty gaze for a heartbeat, before he abruptly surged to life. He came at Vince so quick that no one had time to react. Vince was in the air with a hand around his throat and another wrapped into his belt before he even registered the movement. Dom jerked forward, hand out stretched, but Vince wasn’t sure which of them he’d been reaching for before he froze. No one moved. 

Possibly no one breathed. Vince sure didn’t.

Brian was staring into his face and something in the lines of his jaw promised violence. “Open your goddamn eyes, Vince. You’re the only one whose got a problem with me. You’ve always been the only one with had a problem with me. If anyone is ripping your family apart, it’s you. You’re not gonna run me outta here. No fucking way. I’ll leave when Dominic tells me he wants me gone. Until then, you can sit the fuck down about it. I’m in love with him and you need to fucking deal with that. So get that jealousy under control or I’m going to have to solve your problem myself. I can promise you that you won’t like my solution. Understand?” 

Vince couldn’t get enough air to actually voice a response, but he manage a small nod. He had both hands wrapped around Brian’s wrist, but he couldn’t move the man. Suspended in midair, he couldn’t get any leverage to break the hold. Everything was beginning to go a little fuzzy, but he couldn’t wrap his head around how such a laid back, gangly guy could lift him like this.

Brian shook him once, before lowering him to the ground. He did not, however, release his hold. If anything, Vince thought, he squeezed tighter. Leaning in, he dropped his volume and hissed into Vince's ear, “You keep saying shit like that...I don’t know how fast you are, but you’d better hope that you can outrun me.”

Brian let go of him and Vince stumbled back, the workbench the only thing keeping him upright. His knees felt like jelly. He knew the difference between a threat and a promise.

“Jay-sus! No wonder Hector calls him the Snowman. Bro, that was frigid.” Leon muttered, shifting uncomfortably in his chair and tracking Brian’s movements with his eyes.

Brian wasn’t sure who the comment was directed at, but he ignored it. He stared down at Vince, who was still slumped down against the bench and refusing to meet his eyes, for a moment, before flexing his hand once and turning around. Jesse and Letty were eyeing him warily. Mia looked shocked. But Dom…Dom’s eyes were dark and his whole body seemed to thrum with energy. He tilted his head at Brian, a grin slowly working its ways across his mouth. Brian’s mouth went dry.

“Fuck, that was hot.” Dom’s voice was deeper, huskier than Brian had ever heard it, but Letty's breath stuttered in a way that suggested that she was intimately familiar with that sound.

For a moment, there was no one else in the room with them. Brian was up on the balls of his feet, a beat from closing the distance between them, when someone cleared their throat. It snapped both men back to reality. Brian couldn’t help the flush that crawled up his neck, embarrassed for having forgotten for a moment where they were. He smiled around sheepishly and scratched at the back of his neck.

Dom snorted and perched himself on the arm of one of the empty chairs. When he gestured, Brian came and sat down in the chair itself. “Now that all the drama is done, we’ve got…I’ve got…something to tell you.”

Letty laughed, short and barking. “Is it that you’re fucking? Because we got that part already. Wait. Oh my god. Wait. Was that a date you just went on? You went for a drive and then food, didn’t you? Oh my god.”

Dom rolled his shoulders, trying to settle more solidly onto the arm of the chair. “First no.” He rubbed a hand over his scalp, trying to ignore the funny prickle that swept through him at that thought. “And second, also no.”

Brian shook his head, wondering if Letty was actually going to be a bigger problem than Vince. She at least had good reason to be jealous. Were Letty and Dom still together? No, he decided. She’d never had let this slide if they were. So then, when did they break things off? They were together that night at the race because Brian had watched them disappear upstairs for a quickie. Sometime after that then…It really wasn’t what Brian should be focusing on. He sighed. Could he be loosing focus so often because he didn’t actually want to lay this all out for them?

There was a reluctance in Dom too that Brian wasn’t sure he could explain. It’d been his idea to tell the team immediately. He’d been the one to sooth Brian’s worries, and now he seemed to be on the verge of backing out. Brian took a breath and decided to just…take the dive himself. “I’m a cop.”

Dom winced, as everyone else froze, and closed his eyes in defeat, rubbing that hand over his scalp again. “Christ, O’Connor. Seriously? You’re gonna lead with that?”

The room went dead still for a moment. Brian could hear his own heartbeat, which for once was steady. Even Vince, who had been trying to convince them all of it for weeks, gaped at them, his mouth attempting silent half formed words.

Brian shifted and glanced up at Dom. “Well, what did you want me to lead with?”

“Anything but that. How about leading with the plan, such as it is?”

Leaning back a little to tilt his head, Brian raised a skeptical eyebrow at Dom. The move brought him in fuller contact with Dom’s fingers, which he only then noticed were running absently back and forth across his back. He blinked away the distraction, shooting Dom a pointed look that was promptly ignored. “I couldn’t start there. The plan only actually works because I’m a cop.”

“Stop bickering for one goddamn minute and explain to me what is going on!” Mia finally cut them off, her voice high and strained. Both sets of eyes snapped to her. “You’re a— Dom, he’s? He’s a— What? How— How are you so calm about this? Wait. Did you know all along that he—Why did you say anything? How—What are you even doing?” She paused, panting and a little wild. 

“I’m fixing my mistakes.” Dom leveled her with a flat stare. His expression was more serious, more somber than Brian had ever seen. “I’m protecting the team. That’s what I’m doing.”

“Look, Mia, I was sent undercover to find out who was doing to truck jackings. Obviously, it’s you guys. Which is a problem. Someone will eventually figure this out. My superiors already half suspect you. Unless we give them what they’re looking for.”

“You gonna turn us all in, buster?” Letty snarled, coming suddenly up out of her chair like she’d take a swing. Brian was half tempted to let her, just to break the oppressive atmosphere. 

“Jesus. What is it with you people accusing me of that? I’m not going to turn any of you in. Do you honestly think I’d let the cops to send Dom back to prison? That I would help?” Brian met her wild eyes with a flat stare of his own.

Letty subsided into her chair, silent and sullen. 

“This shit is serious. You’re not going to be doing community service for this shit. No one is getting a suspended sentence. Certainly not Dom. You’ve stolen upwards of 6 million dollars worth of merch from these trucks. The charges that they’re planning to bring against whoever they catch come with a tidy little twenty year prison term. If Dom’s the one to get caught, Lompoc is going to look like the Drunk Tank at the local jail. My boss mentioned that there was some talk about Pelican Bay, if it's a repeat offender. If any one of you thinks that I wouldn’t do every single thing to keep that from happening, you’re blind as well as stupid.” He inhaled deeply through his nose. 

Where was his cool? Wasn’t he supposed to be a snowman? Hector wouldn’t recognize him. But shit, there was no one who got under his skin faster than Toretto’s team and nothing he hated more than having his loyalty doubted.

No one questioned his motives again, but none of them looked happy about it. Or that might have been the mention of the most notorious prison in California. Brian couldn’t be sure, but he wasn’t going to question it. Mia at least seemed to be softening up to him, but maybe it was just a trick of the light. He shook his head. “We can fix this. We have everything we need to fix it. You’ve got the goods and you’ve got the cars. Now all we need someone else’s prints and we’re golden.”

No-one spoke for a long minute, until Mia whispered, eyes wide. “You’re going to make someone else take the fall for us?”

“Yes.” Brian shrugged, not a speck of regret in his face. 

Mia looked horrified. “Brian, you can’t—“

“Yes. I can. Mia, Pelican Bay. And anyway, it’ll be Johnny Tran. He and his cousin could use some time inside to cool their heels. Honestly, with all the shit that family has had their hand in over the years, we’d be doing a public service.”

Vince made noise that would have been a laugh if it wasn’t twisted with disgust and disbelief. “You’re a dirty cop.”

Brian blinked at the accusation, feeling it like a sock to the stomach. He’d always thought that dirty cops were the bad guys. They were on the take. They went around destroying evidence and committing crimes. Except that was exactly what he was doing now. He was going to be replacing evidence and breaking a bakers dozen laws. How had he ended up here? 

Dom’s strong fingers digging into his shoulder snapped him back to reality and made him aware of how rigid he’d gone. He glanced up at the man at his shoulder and found Dom’s eyes were narrowed. He was examining Vince. “Maybe he is. But this dirty cop saved your ass with this plan of his. He saved all our asses. This dirty cop is giving up his badge for us, Vince. He’s giving up his life for us and he's keeping us all out of prison.”

Vince was glaring back. “Whaddya mean saved our asses?”

Dom sneered. Brian watched the skin at his temples tighten. A sudden need to put his mouth on that stretch of skin flushed through Brian, so quick he was almost breathless with it. His desire, always held on the tightest of leashes, was now spilling out of control. The low simmer that always seemed near boiling whenever he was within touching distance of Dom seemed to have won the day, because he couldn’t get a handle on his distraction. 

He was finding the entire situation increasingly surreal. Everything seemed out of step, like things were happening in the wrong order.

They fell in love before they’d even so much as kissed, which had never happened to Brian before. They’d announced themselves to Dom’s friends before things had gotten physical between them. Hell, they’d never even gone on a date. Unless you counted like Letty did. Which, now that Brian thought about it, wouldn’t be such a bad first date actually.

Fuck. Why couldn’t he focus? Things could get out of hand at any moment and here he was distracted by thoughts of what Dom’s sweat would taste like and stupid bullshit about dating. Christ.

When Brian finally dragged his attention back on the argument happening above his head, he was grateful that he hadn’t zoned out too long. Dom was saying, “—better’n even odds one of us woulda gotten shot next time. And it would probably have been you or me. And if one of us had crashed because of it, we coulda taken out the whole team. This shit is real. It’s not what we got in this for. This kind of danger is not for kicks. It—“

“Hold up.” Brian couldn’t have heard right. “Did you just say for kicks? You pulled these jobs for fun?!?”

Dom finally broke eye contact with Vince and glanced down, confusion clouding his expression. “Yeah. What else would we have done it for? Although the cash was pretty good for extras on the cars.”

Brian stared for a moment, his teeth gritted, feeling his blood pressure starting to climb. “You’re telling me, in all honesty, that you recruited all of your best friends and your sister to hijack trucks while traveling at 75 miles an hour with _a grappling gun_ and you did it _for fun_???” The volume of Brian’s voice had climbed with his blood pressure and somewhere in the middle of his tirade, he’d gotten to his feet, too agitated to stay seated.

Dom was slowly leaning away from him, eyes wide. “Uh. Yeah?”

 _“What the fuck is wrong with you, Dominic Toretto?_ No, really. What the actual fuck is wrong with you? That’s so fucking stupid.” He swung his gaze on the assembled group, who were all looking at him like he was something exotic in the zoo, a weird mix of fear and awe and confusion. “And you morons, why would you let him talk you into this? _A grappling gun!_ ” Eyes back on Dom, he finished with a snarl, “Why would you do that?”

Dom bared his teeth in an expression that was nothing like a smile. There was tension riding him hard now, across his shoulders and down his back. His right hand was fisted so tight his knuckles were white. He pressed it hard into his thigh. “If I said that it seemed like a good idea at the time, are you going to keep screaming?” 

And just like that, Brian’s blazing anger slipped away. Yes, what they’d done was moronic. Yes, it was even stupider to do it just for kicks, but it was over. They’d already done it and no one had died. Brian was just going to have to get over that. Because Dom’s body lied in rigid lines, his eyes went flat and hard, but his voice never did. He couldn’t control the emotional undertones of his graveled rasp or didn’t know how much it gave away. And just now, there was something fragile and wounded in his voice. As though he were afraid this would drive Brian away before they even got started. As though he were fighting desperately not to beg Brian to stay.

Brian could feel a headache coming on. He shut his eyes for a moment. “Fuck it. There is nothing to be done about it now. Can we all agree that it was really dangerous and really, really stupid?” 

Dom’s shoulders didn’t loosen, but his hand did. Brian stared down into his eyes, waiting. Warmth slowly seeped back in and Brian exhaled.

In the background, there was more uncomfortable shifting. Vince was watching him now with wide eyes. “Christ, Dom. You sure you wanna have to deal with that,” he waved a hand vaguely at Brian. “All the time? He’s fucking nuts, man. And he’s a fishwife.”

There was a moment of silence before Brian himself snorted and then broke into full body laughter. It broke the tension enough that Letty followed him into fits. Soon Leon and Jesse were laughing too. Vince just slumped against the workbench, looking disgruntled. Mia was still frowning at them all, but especially at Dom as he seemed to drink in Brian’s laughter. 

The look on his face, she was horrified to realize, was the one he’d worn when she’d watched him walk out into the sunlight for the first time, after he’d been released from Lompoc. It had an edge of an almost child-like awe in it.

She swallowed hard. She understood why he would appeal to Dom. He's appealed to her too when he'd first shown up.

Brian was bright and glistening, like the jet of fire from a NOS boost. He sparked with joy and anger in equal measures, but he was full of hard edges and blurred lines, difficult to get close to and more difficult to pin down. She's been taken in by the spark, but hadn't had the energy to get passed everything else. Now that it seemed like it would have been a waste anyway, she was glad she hadn't bothered.

Looking around at everyone in the garage, she thought that Brian was the most dangerous of all. Because, for all his railing against Dom for the truck hijacking, she had no doubt that if he was still around when Dom had his next great idea, Brian would be right there in step with her brother. Making it run more smoothly and taking even more dangerous risks to get it done.

Something about the way he oriented himself to Dom, responded to the small cues that hardly anyone else noticed, made her think that at the end of things, when Dom was desperate and out of options, Brian would be the one to make the sacrifice, whatever that might be. Anything he could give, up to and including his life. After all, he was already willing to sacrifice his integrity.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is short. I lost my plot a little, but I will be writing one more chapter.

Mia wondered how much else Brian was going to give away for her brother and if it’d be worth it in the end, if he’d regret it, resent them all for it, resent Dom for it. 

She watched Dom watch Brian, realizing that she’d never seen Dom like this with someone before. Not with Letty or any of the other women he’d dated over the years. She’d never seen him look at anyone like he was looking at Brian right now. 

For their sake, Mia hoped whatever plan they’d cooked up worked. She couldn’t lose Dom to the inside again and judging by the way Brian kept saying Pelican Bay in the same tone of voice people reserved for torture chambers and internment camps, she’d be losing him for good.

She pushed away all of it and decided to just focus on fixing this, this royal fuck up that they’d all participated in. “Can we focus, please? You were telling us something insane about framing Johnny Tran for the truck jackings?” 

Brian sobered up quickly at Mia’s pointed question and turned to her. “Tran’s been on LAPD and FBI radar for years. They want him anyway, but they’ve never had enough cause to actually do anything about it. He—“

“Hang on.” Dom broke in, frowning. “FBI?”

Brian glanced down at him. “Yeah. I told you they were here. The task force I was recruited to, the one I’m working for…well, was working for…It’s a joint thing. Local and federal agents. There’s about half a dozen feds floating around, no one in the field. Mostly analysts and one point man.”

Dom breathed for a moment. “That’s…a whole ‘nother level of we’re fucked.”

“No.” Brian said it with such finality that you couldn’t really help but believe it. “Dom, look, I promise you, we can manage this. And if we can’t…well. Forewarned is forearmed, as they say.”

“So,” Leon pressed, shooting Dom worried side-eyes. “How are we gonna do this?”

Brian dropped back into his seat and leaned his arms on his knees. He could feel Dom’s heat along his side. “I know the procedures, yeah? I know how the cops and the feds work. So, we give them what they want to find. We’re going to need Johnny’s and Lance’s fingerprints, but we’ve got almost everything else. Letty, Mia, is there any chance you can manage those? If you got it on a glass or something hard plastic, that’d be best, but I can get it off clothing, I think. If I have to. If one of you could manage to get some organic material too, that’d be even better.”

Mia frowned, but Letty cocked an eyebrow. “Organic material? I am not fucking either of those douchebags.”

Brian blinked. “Jesus Christ. Ugh. No. I meant like a strand of hair or blood or skin. Semen would definitely not be useful. At all.” He shuddered a little at the memory of Lance Nguyen’s crazy eyes locked on him across a parking lot. “Just no.” He shook off the memory and tried to refocus. Dom slid a hand onto his back again and just left it there, resting lightly against his shoulder blade. He suppressed a shiver at the heat and continued. “We’re gonna need to get the Civics sparkling. There can’t be anything left behind that isn’t what we put there. Leon, Jesse, could you do that? It doesn’t even have to be all of them. Two should work fine. Don’t just wear gloves though. Cover as much exposed skin as possible. Wear a cap or a full face cover. Whatever you usually wear to actually pull the heists. You can’t leave behind any organic material of your own. Also, Dom, I’m going to need access to whatever you have left from the last haul. It doesn’t have to be a lot. Even a dozen items should be enough. Vince, I’m going to need you to help me get them into one of Tran’s warehouses.”

“And what am I supposed to be doing during all this? Getting the inventory will take minutes.” Dom murmured, close to his ear. Brian’s breath stuttered, but he ignored it.

“You are going to be at Race Wars with Letty and Mia, being conspicuous and present so that no-one suspects anything. As things get done, we’re going to need to cycle in and out, so that people see us there. If there’s enough people, it’ll be hard to prove that we all weren’t there the whole time. We’ll alibi each other. And I’ll be the ace in the whole. I can lie during a polygraph. I’ve done it before. I can do it again if I need to.”

Dom’s hand flexed against his back and he bit back a grin. “Okay,” Dom muttered under his breath. “But why is that so hot?”

Letty heard him because she laughed, that short bark again, and said, “Who the hell are you kidding, Dom? He’s smart. You like smart. And he’s badass. You like getting pushed around. Seems like he’d got that in hand too.” The jab had a nasty edge to it. It made Leon and Vince both shift uneasily. 

“The hell are you talking about, Letty? Getting pushed around?” Dom’s voice was tight, but Brian didn’t dare look up at him. He watched Letty instead. There was something mean and petty hiding in her eyes.

She snorted, watching Dom from under half-lidded eyes. “You’re joking, right? You never noticed this about yourself? Dom, you’ve always liked it when I tell you what to do. I don’t ask. I demand. You capitulate. It’s been true since we first got together.”

Brian tried to think back on their interactions, the ones he’s witnessed. Letty had always been demanding and confrontational. She also seemed a little…isolating. Possessive to the point where she didn’t want Dom even speaking to other women. Not a terribly healthy relationship, if he’s honest. She’d definitely ordered Dom to do things, that much was true though.

The question was: did he enjoy it or was he doing it because he loved her and thought Letty wouldn’t want things any other way?

Brian could see everyone in the room doing what he was: reexamining Letty and Dom’s relationship. Reevaluating it. Brian didn’t think Dom would appreciate any of this and he opened his mouth to bring things back in focus, but Letty continued

“Sure, you’ve got a wicked temper and you’re not joke in a fist fight, but you’re too forgiving, too eager to please the people you love, Dom. Too willing to just…do whatever it is they want you to. It’s one of the reasons why we were never going to workout in the end. You don’t push back enough. It doesn’t help that you and I, we’re fire. We burn hot and fast. For different reasons. And we’re both going to burn out early, I think. The buster here, on the other hand, Hector was right. He’s a snowman, cold as ice and just as dangerous. Maybe you two will balance out in the end, but somehow I think that you’re just going to crash. Debris and twisted metal.”

As Brian waited, not breathing, for what Dom’s verdict would be, Dom shrugged, not talking his hand off Brian. “Ten seconds of freedom before that crash, Letty.” He said, completely ignoring her original accusations. Everyone seemed content enough to just put the thoughts aside, although Brian had no idea what effect that insidious little accusation was going to have. Especially on Vince. “Makes it all worth it.”

Worth it? Even the idea that Dom was prepared to have his heart broken if it meant he’d be with Brian for a little while send a hot flush through Brian. Love and want jumbled together with a kind go existential longing that Brian had never experienced before. He wanted to press into Dom’s space, against his body, bare skin to bare skin so hard them they melded into one body. He wanted a lifetime with Dom and then ten more of them, because forever only meant until they died and that was no enough time.

Brian didn’t manage to fight the impulse down this time. He surged up out of his chair, grabbing Dom’s skull in a wide, enveloping grip, and kissed him. It was hard and wild and bright. Everything Brian was, Dom thought dazedly, as he opened his mouth to Brian’s tongue for the first time. 

Letty’s words floated back to him as he let Brian explore his mouth. Was he submissive? Because that’s what she was suggesting, with out actually saying it. He couldn’t imagine it. Couldn’t reconcile it with himself.

Except, a sudden image of himself wearing nothing but a collar and kneeling at Brian’s feet was enough to make him instantly, breathlessly hard. He’d never been so grateful for his own preference for loose linen. 

Holy shit, Dom thought. Holy. Shit. 

Feeling like he was freewheeling through an endless sky with nothing to tether to had Dom reaching for something. Which turned out to be Brian’s hips, where he was leaning them against the armchair and Dom’s own hip. He clamped down tight, knowing that he was probably leaving bruises and not caring. It took someone wolf-whistling to break them apart. Vince looked like he was going to be sick, but Letty was watching them with ravenous eyes.

Brian panted and sunk back into the chair. “Shit.” He gasped as he dropped his forehead to Dom’s raised knee. Dom ran a possessive hand through Brian’s hair and let it come to rest on the back of his neck. 

The way Brian was holding himself made it impossible to see if he was also tenting his pants, but something about the almost inaudible whine that Dom could feel against his thigh suggested that Brian was. It made him feel a little less awkward about the situation.

“You’re serious. Fuck. You guys are serious.” Vince’s voice was lost and reedy. He was staring at them with wide eyes.

Brian raised his head and looked over at him. “What? You thought we were joking?”

“I don’t…I…Shit.” Vince seemed at a loss for words.

Brian, however, was not. “Get over it. We’re both into guys. The end.”

Dom shook his head down at Brian. “Dude. I’m not into guys.” Brian glanced pointedly at Dom’s crotch, causing a light flush to start crawling up Dom’s neck. “No seriously. Not that there is anything wrong with being gay, but I’m not into guys. I’m just into you.”

Brian blinked at him, somehow shocked by that, and flushed. Dom watched the flush work its way up his neck, over his ears, and out onto his cheeks. The sight of it made Dom want to follow its path with his tongue and then his teeth, and maybe, if Brian let him, his cock. 

Now there was an idea. Rubbing off against Brian’s face. He wondered if the light stumble that covered Brian’s jaw would burn. 

Mia snorted. “Still not the time, guys. Can we please just stay on track here?”

Brian swallowed, his mouth dry as the desert around them, and nodded. “Good point.” He cleared his throat and shifted a little, trying to lessen the pressure on his erection. It didn’t help. “Really, the only other thing is to dump the cars at Tran’s and book it back to Race Wars. I’ll call it in. I’ll tell them I heard Tran mentioned that he’d moved the stuff to his warehouse. The Fed already thinks it’s Tran in the first place. It was my boss that thought it was Dom.”

“Do you honestly think that we can pull this off?” Leon’s voice was quiet and strained, but it carried.

Brian turned to him and made a point to look him in the eye. “Yes.”

Leon nodded, but his eyes flicked to Dom. 

“If we can manage the truck heists, we can do this.” Dom’s confidence was easy, and it made something deep in Brian’s core feel warm. 

Dom thought they could manage it. Brian knew they could. They didn’t have another option.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The last chapter is going to take place after they get things done.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so this might have gone a little off the rails.

Everything had been laughably easy. Brian spent the entire day riding the edge of adrenaline, certain that none of it would work and they were all headed for Lompoc or San Quentin or fucking Pelican Bay. But somehow, the car gods were smiling down on them because everything fell perfectly into place, like a well constructed engine purring under your hands. It was a tightrope they were walking: enough evidence to convict, but not so much as to look like a set-up. And all done without contaminating any of it. 

The odds against were astronomical. And yet…

Jess and Leon had spent the earliest hours of the morning removing every trace of the team from two of the Civics. They’d gone over all of it twice and then twice again, just to be sure. When the cars were glimmering in the sunlight that slanted in through the garage windows, they’d bundled all their things into one of the trailers and gone off to stake out a place at Race Wars. 

Brian had spent all morning pacing nervously around the garage. Dom had stopped by briefly, to drop the electronics into the Civics and a kiss onto Brian’s mouth, before he’d taken the other trailer.

About half noon, Mia and Letty had pulled up outside, handed over two ziplock baggies full of shot glasses, and then they too had gone off to Race Wars. Vince had gone directly there to put in some face time with the crowds before arriving at DT’s around one o’clock.

He and Vince, sweltering in the heat and covered heat to toe to prevent leaving behind any evidence, left their phones with Dom in case anyone was tracking them. They’d then ditched the Civics on the side street that ran along side one of the warehouses and managed to sneak half a dozen leftover electronics into the warehouse nearest to the cars. Brian had salted one of the boxes with a couple of Lance’s prints. 

He’d salted the cars with a couple of prints and partials from each of both Johnny and Lance, left in places that someone trying to wipe it down could plausibly have missed: the inside edge of the door handle and the dashboard over the steering wheel. Places that you might forget you’d touched or that you might have wiped down, but not good enough. He’d added a strand of Johnny’s hair that Letty had managed to snag, dropping it into the cup holder in the center console just to be sure. 

Even his and Vince’s escape had gone smoothly. They’d shed their extra clothing into a backpack Vince had brought and legged it half a mile to where Dom had dropped them a car. 

Brian froze when he spotted it, just stopped in the middle of the street and stared. It was Dom’s Charger. Dom’s father’s Charger, sitting quiet in the middle of the grubby alley like a tiger resting in the sun. Vince nearly plowed right into Brian’s back before he noticed that the man had stopped. “What the—“ He cut himself off when he saw the car. “Good Christ.”

They stood staring for a beat, before Vince finally shook his head. “Well, fuck. I guess he does love you after all. Let’s get the fuck out of here.”

Brian nodded and made himself move. His limbs were numb and he wasn’t sure he could feel his face anymore, but he hadn’t crashed yet. The adrenaline was still thrumming through him. 

Vince didn’t even glance his way, just beelined for the passenger side and climbed in. Brian got behind the wheel, running a reverent hand over the leather for a moment. He glanced over at Vince, who had sighed with such long-suffering grief that it was almost comical. “Yeah,” Vince said, anger lurking in his eyes and disgust on his face. “I’m not fucking driving this thing. It’s Dom’s. It is Dom. Put the goddamn keys in and get us the fuck out of here. Don’t make me say it again.”

Brian nodded. Vince was right. Being given the keys to the Charger felt in some ways more intimate than sex, Brian thought as he slipped the car into gear. Sex was easy, just physical…or not just, but more physical than anything else. Driving Dom’s Charger, the one car that he’d never let anyone else even touch, felt like being welcomed, not into Dom’s body, but into his soul. 

It sent a flood of warmth through Brian that he could barely contain. He wanted to scream, to run as far as he could away from this much trust, to wrap himself in Dominic Toretto and never ever move. He knew that his smile had a tint of insanity to it. He could see it in Vince’s face and hear it in his silence.

He didn’t care. 

They’d done it.

The drive back to Race Wars passed in a kind of hazy blur for Brian. He knew that Vince was sitting next to him. He knew he was driving the Charger. He knew that they were in the middle of committing a series of major crimes. None of it felt real. 

When he finally put the car in park on the edges of the occupied space, in the wide open desert, far enough away that no one would touch it, Vince spoke. “You love him. Don’t you?” Brian nodded, too full of…everything to speak. “Alright. Alright…Brian, I don’t fucking like you. I will never fucking like you. You fucked up my best friend. You twisted him up in the head so bad that he’s turned into a fucking f—That he’s turning into someone I barely recognize. And there is nothing I can do about it. But you love him. And he obviously loves you.” He looked around at the car they were sitting in, face pained and eyes hooded. “So, I’m only going to say this the one time. If you break his heart, I will snap your spine. And you could because you’re careless and fucking nuts, man. And Dom, he’s…uh…fragile, I guess. Brittle. Prison broke something inside him and seems to me that he’s only just been gluing things together. You could help him fix it. Or you could break him into pieces.” Vine paused and took a breath. “You better fucking help him fix it.”

Brian’s breath rattled around in his lungs. It felt a lot like Vince’s blessing…or his capitulation anyway. Brian would take what he could get. “Vince, man, you gotta know. I’d trade _anything_ to keep Dom safe. My career, my goddamn life. I’d go to prison in his place. I’d fucking die for him. Anything.”

Vince sat, staring out the windshield for a long moment, before reaching for the door handle. “And what if the thing he needs protecting from, the thing that is tearing him apart, is you?” He asked and got out of the car.

Brian couldn’t move. He felt the words like fists beating against his underbelly. What ifs that had Dom in prison or dead and broken at the roadside swirled in his head. Was Vince right? Was he the thing that would destroy Dom? Could he risk that?

A knock at his window snapped him back to reality and he looked up. Dom was standing outside the window with an eyebrow raised and a teasing twist to his mouth. Brian took a deep breath and levered himself out of the car.

“Vince said it went off perfectly.”

Brian nodded, searching Dom’s face for some hint that Vince had been wrong, the Brian wasn’t doing damage he hadn’t even realized. 

Dom narrowed his eyes. “What’s wrong, Bri? Did you—“

Brian shook his head. His voice, when he finally answered, was hoarse. “Nothing. Everything went off exactly to plan.”

“Then what?” Dom was frowning now, concerning coloring his eyes. He swayed a little closer, as though his subconscious could sense Brian’s desire for proximity.

“You don’t…Dom, you know that I would give you anything you asked me for, anything you needed. Right? You know that I’d…Jesus, I’d die protecting you and gladly. Right? I’m not…I would never…If us being together, is going to…”

Dom blinked, before his face fell into blankness. “The fuck did Vince say to you?”

Brian shook his head, closing his eyes against the utter wreckage he could feel on the horizon. Maybe he should have just shut his fucking mouth. “No, it’s…I won’t hold you to anything. Things have been…intense the last couple of days. If you…if you’ve rethought…us, at all. Just tell me. I can handle it. I can…whatever you need.”

“Jesus Christ, Bri.” Dom’s voice sounded like it had been sent through a meat grinder: shredded and hoarse and so full of pain. Dom’s expression, when Brian opened his eyes in alarm… “Do you not want—“

“No! Damn it. No. I am not changing my mind. Dom, I’m in love with you. Literally nothing you can do and nothing anyone can say will change that. But if you’d rather not—“

Dom didn’t wait for Brian to finish his sentence; he just reached out and fisted a hand into the other man’s shirt, yanking him in. His other hand came up to curl across Brian’s jaw. The kiss that he pressed to Brian’s mouth contained a thousand promises, an ocean of hurt, and maybe just a little bit of Dom’s well-hidden insecurity. 

Brian wanted to claw his own eyes out. Why had he even thought that Vince might have a point? What the hell had he been thinking? “I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry. Please don’t think—“ He tripped over his own words, rasping broken apologies into Dom’s mouth.

Dom shook his head and pulled back. “Brian, you don’t have to apologize. You do have to lead with whatever crazy, fucked up thing is going on in your head before you try to…whatever this was. Leave me. Whatever.” Dom’s voice cracked just a hair-breadth on the word ‘leave.’

Brian was going to drowned in his own regret. He pressed another kiss to Dom’s lips, nodding. “I couldn’t leave if I tried. You’re written on my bones, Toretto. And you’re the end of the road for me.”

Dom broke away again, smiling this time, wider than Brian ever remembered seeing. It was a little crooked and a lot goofy and Brian had never seen anything so beautiful in all his life. “Come on, Bri. You still gotta tell us how it went. And you got a call to make.”

Instead of stepping back and releasing him, Dom simply grabbed his hand and pulled him through the crowd, careless of who might see. The minute they made it back to the Toretto area, Brian couldn’t help but angle in for a kiss. Watching people eye their clasped hands had felt like making a declaration, like wedding vows. 

The kiss was short by necessity, since Dom was right: the job wasn’t quite finished. Brian sighed as he pulled away, licking his lips. He was still a little hazy on such a prolonged adrenaline high. He could feel the mania surfacing in his expression again. The grin that split his face felt more out of control than he’d been in ages. Snagging his phone from a table someone had set up, Brian dialed the number. 

“Tanner? Yeah. Could you get Bilkins on too? I’ve got something.” There was a pause. The team watched anxiously. They seemed to be taking their cues from Dom, which wasn’t unusual, except that today? Today, Dom was a fucking mess. “Yeah. Okay. Listen, I just heard Johnny Tran talking with his cousin. They were talking about the truck that’s running today. Lance mentioned something about warehouses. I couldn’t catch it. It’s too loud here…Do I? Honestly, I—…Ah. Yeah.He seems the type. Adrenaline junkie, but also pretty batshit. Does he have the driving skills? Yes…The discipline? Tanner, have you ever ridden a cro—er, motorcycle? In tight quarters like Johnny and his crew ride, you’ve got to have discipline or someone is going to be so much roadkill.” He paused again, taking a deep breath. “I know you already raided the restaurant and the grounds… Yes, and their houses. I was there for part of it. I’m telling you, it’s what I heard. You wanna ignore the chance that it’s Tran just because you wanna see Toretto go back to prison, I don’t know what to tell you, man…Why didn’t—? Are you joking? It’s Race Wars…No, Tanner, I can’t come in to go over the details. You want me to break cover just to tell you things I already told you? No, man. I won’t. And would you tell Harris in the background there to shut the fuck up about Toretto’s sister, perverted freak….Yes. Okay. Later.”

Brian snapped the phone shut, smile wider than ever. His face ached with it. “Bilkins believes me. Tanner still wants Dom’s ass so bad he’s gagging for it, but Bilkins doesn’t give a shit who did it. I think he wants a promotion, so he’ll try whatever.” Brian’s grin faded to a more manageable level. “Now we wait.”

Dom shook his head, hand heavy on Brian’s shoulder. “No, Buster. Now, we race.”

________________________________________________________

The first thing Mia did when they returned to 1327 was go to the corner store and buy a newspaper. She brought it home, still curled up, the evening edition, and placed it very deliberately on the dining table. Letty was sprawled in the chair at the head of the table, Jesse bouncing in his seat to her right and Leon slumped to his right. Dom and Brian stood together at Mia’s shoulder, Dom’s arm draped heavily over Brian’s shoulder, a position which should have been awkward given their height difference. It wasn’t. Brian had wrapped his own arm around Dom’s waist and relaxed into his side. 

Vince had taken one look at them and retreated upstairs, grumbling some incoherent excuse, like he was allergic to Dom and Brian’s contact. Mia tried to ignore his hostility, but she could see the toll it was taking on her brother. She’d have to have a long discussion with him once everything settled.

Pushing those thoughts away, she reached with trembling fingers to unroll the paper. Sure enough, in large black print, the headline read: Restauranteur & Son Arrested In Truck Heists, Drugs Found In Warehouse.

Dom jerked against Brian’s side and let his arm drop in order to look at him properly. “Brian?”

Brian shook his head. “Don’t look at me. I didn’t plant any drugs. Just the electronics and the cars. If they found drugs, that’s all on Johnny’s head.” He glanced down at the headline and frowned. “I do find it a little worrying that no one has contacted me though. I wasn’t even informed that they’d been arrested.”

Dom raised an eyebrow. “Do you care?”

Brian snorted. “Not particularly, but if something changed during the investigation, I’d like to know about it before it hits the papers or they send someone to arrest us all or something.”

Letty actually chuckled at that and rolled her eyes up to look at him from where she was lolling in the chair. “Why don’t you call your buddy, Tanner? Would he tell you anything?”

Brian hummed, wondering, but pulled out his phone anyway. Tanner picked up after two rings. “Brian. Why did you not check in today?”

Brian frowned at the tone in his voice. “They didn’t take all the cars. Toretto insisted that we only needed the ones we were racing. So people doubled up to drive back to the house and pick up the rest of the cars. I only got here about twenty minutes ago and I only got away to speak about two minutes ago. Tanner, is something wrong?”

There was a sigh down the lines. “I’m concerned for your safety. We got Tran. He had the cars and a couple of left over things from one of the earlier jobs. It looked like he might have been gearing up to do another tonight, but we got him. There was about 50 kilos of cocaine stashed in the warehouse as well, so you were right. Looks like the FBI finally gets their grubby hands on the Trans. Bilkins is thrilled.”

Brian huffed, not quite a laugh. “Yeah. I can imagine. His promotion is probably already sitting on his desk. The ink isn’t even dry yet.”

Tanner grunted, acknowledging, but then he paused. “Brian, are you sure that’s all? There’s nothing else you’ve seen? Nothing…” He trailed off. Whether from a lack of clarity or balls, Brian couldn’t tell, but it sent his pulse jackhammering. 

“I didn’t hear anything else from Tran or the cousin at the races, if that’s what you mean. I didn’t actually seem them there much later in the day yesterday and I guess today they wouldn’t have been there at all.”

The silence on the other end of the line stretched, grew malleable. Brian could feel the tension growing across his shoulders. Dom must have seen it, because he curled one large hand over the nape of Brian’s neck and kneaded. Brian fought to stay silent.

"Something about the whole thing…is off.”

“With Tran?”

Tanner hummed noncommittally. Brian’s scalp prickled.“Call it a hunch, but it’s…too neat. And Tran never struck me as having the right temperament for this. Too impulsive. Too single-minded.”

Brian nearly laughed at that one, but he managed to stifle it at the last moment. He was sure it would have sounded hysterical. “Too impulsive? Tanner, were you literally telling me that it was obviously Toretto because he’s off the wall and violent? That doesn’t parse, man.”

He shot Dom an apologetic look and the other man just shrugged and crossed his arms. No doubt, Brian thought bitterly, he was used to people thinking that about him. 

The silence seemed to be over at least. Tanner continued, “No. It’s different. Toretto has fits of passion, seems like. Grabs whatever’s to hand as a weapon, where as Tran seems more the kind of guy who would make a vow while in the middle of temper, but then hold himself to it. Toretto’s…not smart, but clever. But he’d also a thrill seeker. Tran’s a loose canon. One burns hot, the other cold as ice.”

Brian actually considered that. Would he describe Johnny Tran as cold? He didn’t disagree with the assessment of Dom’s temper, which definitely flared hot. “I don’t know that I agree about Tran. He doesn’t have the quick burning temper that Toretto does, because you’re right about that. He doesn’t burn out quick. He’s holds a grudge, but I’ve met him a couple times now. Remember, Tanner, that the first time was when he shot up my car that was filled with highly flammable gas? While I was standing right next to it? Because I’d accidentally wandered into his territory and committed the ultimate sin of having Dominic Toretto in the car with me. That doesn’t seem like cool anger to me. Tran’s psychotic and his cousin is even worse. I don’t understand why he does anything he does.”

Brian took a breath and then a risk. “Look, Tanner. We went into this with no skin in the game. We just wanted facts and evidence. It seems to me that you’re letting your hatred blind you to what’s in front of you. You’re letting your personal opinion of a man you’ve never met taint your objectivity. You found evidence at Tran’s warehouse. You even got him on drug charges, if the truck ones don’t stick. Do you truly, objectively think that there is a hole in the case or do you just hate Toretto that much?”

There was another silence down the phone and Brian prayed to anyone who might be listening that Tanner let it go. He was the only one of the task force who cared enough to keep digging.

Finally, after a dozen loud beats of Brian’s heart, Tanner sighed. “Damn. I hate it when you make sense. I just…I’ve known guys like Toretto. They build themselves a little kingdom and fill it with lackeys, lord themselves over everyone. Except they’re all nothing more than worthless cons, violent and not smart enough to keep far away from trouble. They cycle in an out and tax the system because they can’t goddamn get their shit together. Tough guys. Big men on campus. They all get caught in the end.”

Brian gritted his teeth for a moment, glancing at the shuttered expression on Dom’s face. He couldn’t let that stand. _He couldn’t_. “I think you might be wrong about Toretto, man. Yeah, he’s got a temper and could definitely rip your head off if he wanted to. But the man is far from stupid and he cares about his family more than anyone I’ve ever met. It’s…I grew up in this kinda scene, Tanner. It’s why you chose me for this. I know this world and Toretto is rare on the streets. He doesn’t jockey, he doesn’t demand, and he doesn’t threaten. Sure, he can be an abrasive asshole, but his crew show him real loyalty because they love him, not because he’d the Alpha.”

Tanner exhaled loudly enough that Brian could hear him. “Careful, O’Connor…I know you grew up in the street scene. It _was_ why we picked you for this, but it’s also one of the reasons that I was dubious about that choice. You’re vulnerable to that kind of dynamic because you’re from a broken home. The longing, the envy, it’s like a thick coat you’ve wrapped yourself in. It’s so present so much of the time that I sometimes wonder if I could touch it. You’re looking for a family, Brian, something to fix or replace your fucked-up childhood. You’re not going to find it. Not there anyway.”

Tension thrummed through Brian, pulling him tight as a crossbow. “Broken home? Tanner my juvenile records are sealed. They were sealed for a reason. Is there something you want to share with the class?”

“You know we had to dig deep to make sure you fit the criteria for undercover work.”

Brian exhaled, shaky and jittery. He wanted to go through the phone and bash Tanner’s head into the nearest hard object. “So you’re telling me that you abused your authority and violated my rights in the process, just to look at sealed juvenile records and now you’re…what? Going to hold it over my head? How fucking dare you?” He fought not to gag, feeling bile rising in the back of his throat. Tanner knew about…everything. 

“I’m your boss. It’s my right to—“

“No it fucking isn’t. It is no one’s right. You should never have abused your access. Fuck. If we weren’t cops, you wouldn’t’ve even had it. I can’t have this conversation right now. Tell Bilkins to keep me posted.” 

“Bria—“ Brian hung up. He was panting. One of his hands was gripping the back of a chair so hard, Dom thought he might break it. 

Dom reached out to lay a hand on Brian’s shoulder and the other man flinched. “Please don’t touch me right now. I can’t…I can’t be touched right now.”

Dom froze for a beat before taking a deliberate step back. Brian’s breathing eased a little and he dropped the cellphone on the table. He couldn’t look at Dom, couldn’t stand to see the pain that would be in his eyes. His skin felt like it was on fire. He wanted to hurt someone. He wanted to crash his car. He wanted a rush of adrenaline to flush the lingering taste of fear and bile out of his mouth.

He realized now that the entire task force knew too. It explained the side-eyes and the pity and the judgment that he’d gotten since almost the beginning. It also explained the wide berth most of the agents and officers gave him. Damn Tanner to hell.

“Brian? Bri, tell me how to help you.” Dom’s voice was soft, pleading, with fear buried deep at its core.

Brian swallowed. He owed them an explanation. He owed them so much more than that. He never wanted to speak about it, even even wanted to think about it. He’d promised himself that he wouldn’t. But he didn’t want to lose anyone of them. 

“There’s nothing you can do to help, Dom. I…Tanner should never have accessed my records. He…I can’t believe he’d…And now everyone…” Brian let out a harsh laugh, high pitched and grating. “At least now I have the perfect excuse to give them when I quit.”

“Bri…” 

“I promised myself I would never talk about this again, so if you want to hear it, you need to shut up and not interrupt me.” His voice was hard, reedy, and it made Dom flinch, but he nodded. “When I was nine, I killed my father. Because of the mitigating circumstance, I wasn’t even properly tried. I got put in foster care. I moved around a lot. It wasn’t until I turned fourteen and met Roman Pearce that I had any kind of permanent home. His parents took me in, so I lived with them until I got sent to juvie for boosting cars.” Brian finally looked up and met Dom’s gaze. “They put me in therapy right after it happened and it was a mandate of the court until I turned eighteen.”

Dom’s mouth parted, his eyes wide with something that wasn’t quite fear. Brian inhaled so sharply his nostrils flared. “Ask me. Dom, ask me. I can see it in your face. Ask me.”

“What were the mitigating circumstances?” Dom’s voice sounded threadbare, like he was barely hanging on.

Brian nodded and looked back at the tabletop. “I had just watched my father rape my big sister and then beat my mother to death.”

“ _Jesus Christ_.” Dom was even hoarser. Brian wondered if his voice would simply give out next.

“Carolyn, my sister that is, joined a cloistered convent just a couple days after she got out of the hospital. She won’t talk to me. She won’t talk to anyone, I don’t think, anymore. I lit my father on fire in front of her and we watched him burn. He was too drunk to do anything about it and the alcohol just made the fire burn a little hotter. She was in too much pain to move much, let alone enough to try and save his life. I don’t know that should would have anyway. I don’t regret doing it, but it’s something I will live with every single day of the rest of my life. None of it was meant to be available to Tanner’s prurient interest, no matter what bullshit reason he pretends to have.”

Brian closed his eyes, exhaling. He’s said it. He told the team, he’d confessed. He couldn’t take it back now. All he could do was let the chips fall. 

He heard a rustle of clothing, most likely Dom’s, as he shifted, but Brian didn’t open his eyes. He was so sure that Dom would walk away, that he’d leave Brian alone again, if only he knew the truth. Well, this was the finish line. 

“Brian, can I touch you now?” It was the first true whisper he’d heard from Dom, his voice barely a thought on the air between them. 

Brian couldn’t breath, couldn’t think. He felt dampness on his face and realized he was crying. His fingers ached with how hard he was holding the chair, but he wasn’t sure that it wasn’t the only thing holding him up. 

It took longer than Brian wanted, longer than it should have, but after several long moments of stillness, Brian nodded. Before he could blink, Dom was there, wrapping his arms tight around Brian. It should have been constricting. Brian _never_ wanted to be touched when he was feeling like this. But it was Dom. Dominic who loved him more than he’d ever dreamed, who had taken everything that Brian had thrown at him and never gave an inch, just stood as steadfast and loyal as ever. 

For a long, glorious moment, in the middle of a hurricane, Brian felt safe in the shelter of Dom’s enormous arms.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I realize this chapter is WAY shorter than the ones that came before, but I didn't want to leave you guys hanging with an unfinished fic (again...) and this felt like a natural conclusion. So.

The thought of going back into work and facing Tanner made Brian want to scream until his throat was bloody and ruined, but he did it anyway. Two days after reading the headline in Mia’s paper, Brian woke early, spent a moment enjoying having Dom draped over his chest, and then edged his way out of bed. 

The clothing he’d been wearing as Brian Earl Spilner was his own, but not anything he’d wear into work, so instead he put on a button-down and a pair of tailored slacks. He’d brought them over from his apartment deliberately, for this very occasion.

He was jittery and there was a crawling feeling making its way up his spine, but he went downstairs and started a pot of coffee anyway. Today, he was convinced, was going to be hellish. His coworkers, the ones who weren’t from the FBI, had all been convinced it was Dom pulling the heists. Tanner, especially overzealous with his accusations against Dom, could be very persuasive when he wanted to.

Never mind that it was true and they were all right about it. They’d never find that out.

The coffee helped, but it soured a little in his empty stomach. Coffee never agreed with him before breakfast. Except today he wasn’t sure he’d be able to stomach actual food, so he’d have to make do.

A low whistle, followed by a nearly subsonic hum, broke him from his revery. Brian looked up. Dom and Mia were both standing in the doorway, staring at him. The two siblings shared a look. 

“It’s entirely unfair that he’s yours. If you loved me, you’d share’m.” 

Dom cocked one eyebrow. “I do love you, Mia, but you’re not getting your hands on him. He’s mine. You had your chance. It’s not my fault he thinks I’m hotter.”

Mia gaped at him and they both turned to Brian, who wisely said nothing. Just stood by the sink, sipping his coffee and frowning at them.

Dom’s eyebrows furrowed in concern. He’d expected a smile at least, if not a laugh. “Bri?”

Brian shook his head and turned to put his cup in the sink. “I’m going in to the office today.” Twin sharp inhalations echoed behind him, but he didn’t turn around. “I’m turning in my badge early. I’ve got a couple of people who have agreed to keep me posted on any new developments. One of them is a fed and one’s a cop. We won’t be blind-sided. But I…can’t. I can’t keep going back for the duration. I’m sorry. I know that plan was for me to stay, but I can’t.”

“Hey. Hey. Bri, don’t even worry about it.” Dom’s voice was rich with concern.

Brian could hear Mia shift, her heels making the floor creak. “Brian, you don’t need to be there for anything else. It’s over. Your part in all that is over. Now it’s just the trial.”

Brian felt like he might vibrate right out of his skin. He jerked when a hand closed over his elbow, and nearly knocked a bottle of dishwashing soap into the skin. He leaned back into the tower of warmth at his back. Dom’s arm came up around him, anchoring him. “Brian, you’re more important than this damn case. We’ve got backup plans. Our backup plans have backup plans. Which you know because you created most of them. So it’s more important to me, to all of us, that you’re safe and healthy. And if that means that you need to quit the badge…Man, I am not going to argue with that.” Dom’s voice was a low rumble in his ear. 

Mia made a supportive noise in her throat.

Brian exhaled as some of the tension he’d been carrying melted away. Dom leaned in a little further, inhaling deeply and nosing at his hair. “Although, if you got a uniform somewhere, I’m not going to say no to you keeping in around…You know. Just in case.” Dom hummed a little and nipped at Brian’s earlobe.

Brian wasn’t sure what Dom meant by that, but he knew what he wanted it to mean. His head filled with scenarios, each more outlandish than the last, of himself cuffing Dom and fucking over the hood of the Charger, of Dom on his knees nosing at his uniform pants, of Dom tied to a chair in an interrogation room with his pants open and his hard cock out. _Jesus Christ_. It was too early for this and Mia was standing just a few feet away.

Dom shifted a little, angling them so Mia couldn’t see him slip a hand down and squeeze Brian’s dick through his pants. Brian couldn’t help it, couldn’t stop it. He whined high and needy in the back of his throat before he managed to swallow it.

Mia huffed and rolled her eyes. “Not in the goddamn kitchen. God.” There was something hard and tense in her voice now, as though she could handle their situation, even joke about it, when it was only an abstract, but being presented with obvious and irrefutable evidence of it was too much.

Dom released him and stepped back pointedly. “Sorry.”

Mia shook her head and retreated from the room. She paused in the doorway only long enough to wish Brian luck.

“Brian, I—“ Dom’s voice was tight now too. With something that Brian couldn’t parse.

He held up his hand anyway, still not turning to face Dom. “No. Dom, whatever it is can wait. I need to go do this. If I don’t leave now, I probably won’t leave at all.”

Dom nodded, even though he knew Brian couldn’t see it and murmured, “Love you. Good luck.” Then he too retreated from the kitchen. 

Brian stayed standing at the sink for another minute, breathing deeply. When he couldn’t put it off any longer, he too left the kitchen.

____________________________________________

The noise level in the safehouse dropped to near silences when Brian walked through the door. His skin prickled all over with awareness of the dozens of eyes zeroing in on him. Tanner was ensconced at the kitchen table as he usually was. Brian beelined for him, nodding at the couple of people who actually bothered to greet him.

Tanner watched him approach with narrowed eyes and a hint of hostility. Brian stopped at the edge of the table opposite Tanner’s seat. He swallowed and took a breath. “Tanner.”

“Brian.” Tanner’s voice was flat, cold.

Brian wasn’t sure what he’d been expecting, but this kind of open hostility from a man who had always seemed to care for him was not it. It didn’t matter either way though. He’d only come for one thing. Pleasantries were not it. “This is me submitting my resignation.” Brian said, meeting Tanner’s eyes as he placed his gun and badge on the table in front of him.

“What? What the hell do you think you’re doing? Is this about Toretto? Because I—“ Tanner looked angry enough to chew nails.

Brian shook his head, trying to keep his face neutral as possible. _Meal Ticket._ “No. This is entirely to do with you. You dug into parts of my life that you had absolutely no cause or right to and then you shared private information for the sake of prurient interest. You violated any trust I might have had in you. And you made me realize what a mistake becoming a cop was in the first place. You were right, on the phone. I was looking for a place to belong. A family. But what you made me realize was that I didn’t find it here. And I never would.”

Tanner jerked to his feet, glaring. “Now you listen to me, you little—“

Brian shook his head. “No. You betrayed my trust and didn’t even have the guts to tell me you’d done it until months later. That would have been bad enough, but the fact that you then gossiped about it? Like my shitty childhood was up for grabs? Like the pain and the abuse was…what? Just something to chat about around the water cooler? Fuck you, Tanner. You’re a hypocrite and a disgrace to everything that badge ought to stand for.” Tanner gapped about him. Brian turned on his heel and surveyed the room. Everyone was stock still and most were staring openly at him.

Brian sneered and many of them ducked their heads down to focus on whatever was in front of them. Brian made sure his steps were even and measured. He was not going to flee and he was not going to stomp away in a tantrum. When he finally reached the door, he tossed one more parting shot over his shoulder. “If I’m needed in the investigative process, Bilkins can call my cell. I’ll be there for the trial.”

The air outside was thick with heat and moisture, but Brian didn’t care. He inhaled deeply and wondered if that was what freedom smelled like. Nah, he thought immediately, Dom.

Dom was what freedom smelled like, and home. 

He took the ride back to 1327 easy and slow, keeping within the posted limits and just enjoying the feel of the engine purring under his hands. The sour taste of Tanner’s betrayal was already fading. What did he care what a bunch of shithead cops knew about his childhood? The team knew and didn’t care. They’d accepted him anyway. He’d never felt lighter, more comfortable in his own skin, as he did on that trip home.

Somewhere around the fourth red-light Brian realized he was ravenous. He hadn’t eaten breakfast and hadn’t had dinner the night before. He’d been too twisted up to even consider eating. 

Was Dom going to the garage today? If so, would he be willing to take a break for food? For a proper date, even? Brian could go back to the garage with him after and help him catch up on whatever, now that he didn’t have the Supra to work on constantly. 

Or if he wanted, he could just go home, to 1327, and see if anyone was around, if anyone wanted to grab a bite with him. He and Mia probably needed to have a talk. He could help her study.

Possibilities unfolded in front of him like a hundred miles of flat highway. He was grinning so hard his face hurt. 

There was something bright and sparkling swelling in his chest. It was hard to look at head on, but he thought it might just be joy. 

Brian had passed one finish line today and now, he was ready to start his next quarter mile, with Dom by his side and his team at his back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you want some porn that exists within the timeline of this fic, I had posted several one shots.


End file.
